Our Verdict

The Aerobie AeroPress produced the best tasting coffee in our review. If you're the type of coffee drinker that loves to dial in a perfectly crafted cup whether at home or on the road, this brewer is a must-have. The AeroPress was the distinct winner of all our taste tests, and in the running for an Editors' Choice award. It was edged out because it's on the heavier side and has multiple pieces to keep track of. It also has more of a learning curve, though once you learn the ropes, you'll be brewing up a perfect cup every time. With its unique plunger, the AeroPress makes brewing fun and delicious, so we awarded it a Top Pick for Gourmet Taste.

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Our Analysis and Test Results

The Aerobie AeroPress is a versatile brewer that, depending on how you use it, can offer body and richness like a French press or more clean clarity like a pour-over. It's durable and easy to clean, making it a fantastic option for road trips, camping, and traveling — though you may just love it enough to start using it as your home brewer too.

Performance Comparison

The AeroPress is durable, easy to clean, and delivered the best flavor of all our coffee makers.

Brew Features

The AeroPress is a unique coffee maker that facilitates total immersion and even, rapid filtering. Depending on your mood you can alter your brewing style to achieve a stronger richer cup or a cleaner brighter one (more info and resources on this below). Say goodbye to bitterness and muddiness and hello to a delicious brew, time after time. Whether you're new to craft coffee or an experienced veteran, the AeroPress is worth exploring.

The AeroPress loaded and ready for brewing.

Taste

Properly brewed coffee from the AeroPress has no bitterness, low-acidity, and an extremely clean, rich taste. In our taste tests, this device easily outperformed all the others.

The AeroPress has captured the heart of novices and professionals alike, to the point that there are now national competitions. The brewing process is delicate but forgiving and provides enough versatility to really tweak the final flavor and consistency. Check out this fantastic article for tips on how to properly use your AeroPress and how to dial in those different flavor profiles.

Ease of Use

The AeroPress involves a more elaborate process than many other coffee makers, though once you have it figured out it's quite straightforward.

There are many ways to use this device, as outlined in the article referenced above, and detailed information comes with your purchase or can be found on the Aerobie website. It can be used in both an upright and inverted manner and is able to produce everything from a clean full cup to a smaller stronger brew resembling espresso. Lots of options, all delicious.

Linda Long pushing water through the AeroPress on a cool morning in the Upper Pines Campground in Yosemite Valley.

Group Cooking

This isn't really the brewer for larger groups, though you can serve 1-3 people fairly efficiently.

Because the AeroPress is so easy to clean (just push the plunger and pop the puck out), turn around time from cup to cup is pretty fast. And, if you make a very strong brew more like espresso, then your group can split the coffee from one pressing and add water or milk for an Americano or latte-style beverage.

The AeroPress being put to use on a car-camping morning.

Portability

The AeroPress is not all that large or heavy, so it's definitely portable. However, it is made up of multiple pieces that you will need to keep track of.

To make it easy to keep everything together, the Press comes with a bag to keep all of the pieces in. You may also find that you don't need the funnel, scoop, or large stirrer and, if you happen to have a reusable stainless steel filter, you won't need the stack of paper ones either.

The complete AeroPress kit. It's a lot to keep track of, but for trips where space is an issue you can leave behind the funnel, scoop, and stirrer and use a regular spoon instead. Stainless steel filters are also available from third-party retailers.

Weight

The AeroPress by itself weighs 7.98 ounces, which isn't exactly lightweight. If you include just a few extras, like the spoon and stirrer, then it weighs 9.39 ounces. This would not be the ideal choice for a backpacker who is counting every ounce. But for a car-camper who wants a gourmet morning, this is perfect.

Conclusion

This press is so wonderful that several of our reviewers use it for making coffee every day at home. It also works superbly for car-camping or traveling, but is probably not ideal for backpackers as it is on the heavier/bulkier side. While the AeroPress is on the more expensive side of devices in our review, we loved how versatile, durable, and easy to clean it was, and the taste just couldn't be beaten.

Making delicious, bitter-free coffee with the Aerobie AeroPress. It does require a bit of strong pushing to force the water through the device which is why you usually see people use two hands.